University of Alicante selects WorldCat Local

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 6 June 2011 —The Library of the University of Alicante, in Spain, has selected WorldCat Local as its new discovery service. The library's administration plans to deliver the enhanced discovery experience with its extensive range of available content from more than 800 million electronic, digital and physical items to its users, through the WorldCat Local central index later this year.

The library was interested in achieving higher usage of its many electronic resources. "We have a large investment in our electronic collection," said José Maria García Avilés, associate director of the library. "These electronic resources can be used more if we make them easier to find and easier to use. This is why we needed an advanced discovery tool."

For the Alicante University Library, OCLC quality and reliability were important factors in choosing WorldCat Local. "For us it is essential to work with a party we know and trust. With OCLC and the local support we receive from their Spanish distributor doc6, we have that guarantee. In addition, we found the combination of the discovery service with integrated link resolution and a knowledge base, and when you look at the pricing, it is an extremely attractive proposition,” says Mr García Avilés.

The library has about 500,000 records in its catalogue. They will be loaded into WorldCat as part of the implementation of WorldCat Local. About 35,000 staff and students at the University of Alicante will then be able to access many different types of materials (including digital objects, electronic materials, databases, journals, music, video, audio, e-books, theses and print) via one unified search field in one single search result. From there, the electronic articles and open-access content will be available by simply clicking through from that list, right up to the full text (‘View now’).

"In our special collections we have radio recordings from the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime. That's a good example of files that will be easily accessible in this way," explains Mr. García Avilés.

Another highlight of WorldCat Local available to the Alicante University Library is the easy branding of the interface. The university’s students and researchers can benefit from social media features, the evaluative content and the mobile interface for smartphones on various platforms.

About the University of Alicante

The University of Alicante was established in 1979 in Spain, but its roots date back to 1545 when the University of Orihuela started, the first university in Alicante. The library serves about 31,000 students and 2,400 research staff with its 150 library employees. The university has eight locations, seven of which include a library branch..

About OCLC

Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing library costs. More than 72,000 libraries in 170 countries have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend, preserve and manage library materials. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain bibliographic, abstract and full-text information when and where they need it. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the world’s largest online database for discovery of library resources. Search WorldCat on the Web at www.worldcat.org. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

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